


The Town That Sleeps

by Moonlight_Hyperfixations



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alien Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Magic, Brotherly Love, But also, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Twins, Creativity | Roman Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus Sanders Have A Good Relationship, Deceit | Janus Sanders Has Magic, E/em pronouns for Virgil, Eldritch Patton, Established Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Genderfluid Morality | Patton Sanders, Ghost Deceit | Janus Sanders, He's not dead, Human Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Human Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Human Logic | Logan Sanders, Inspired by Welcome to Night Vale, Kinda, Multi, No Beta we fade out of reality, Nonbinary Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Nonbinary Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Nonbinary Deceit | Janus Sanders, Nonbinary Logic | Logan Sanders, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prophetic Visions, Scientist Logic | Logan Sanders, She/her and They/them and It/its pronouns for Janus, They/Them Pronouns For Logic | Logan Sanders, Typical Night Vale Weirdness, Uncanny Valley, bc i can, he/him and they/them pronouns for Remus, its like nightvale but more magic and less death, they would die for eachother so theres that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28542480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlight_Hyperfixations/pseuds/Moonlight_Hyperfixations
Summary: Remus and Roman King have been together through thick and thin. Naturally, when Roman inherited the property and possessions of a long distant relative, Remus moved to the small, nowhere town of Valescape with his brother.At first, they were just going to live there until all the possessions were sorted and sold off, then sell the house and move away. Valescape proves to be a strange, unpredictable place, however, and the brothers are pulled into a world where unknowable things and strange magic are everyday occurrences.With the help of their scientist neighbor and fellow outsider, Logan Sanders, the bubbly local news reporter, Patton Hart, the reclusive and ominous general store owner, who everyone calls Anxiety, and an odd, sarcastic entity that keeps showing up in their attic, the brothers attempt to navigate the strange town.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	1. Letters, visions and the local news

**Author's Note:**

> Names and Titles will be pretty important in this story.  
> So, pronouns, names and titles master list(May be updated as we go):  
> Roman(The Prince, Fire, The Flame): He/him (Uses masculine titles)  
> Remus(The Duke, Sea, The Tide): He/him, They/them (Mostly uses masculine titles)  
> Pat(Patton, Patty, Sky): Genderfluid, changes between He/Him and She/her (Uses masculine or feminine titles)  
> Virgil(Anxiety, Star, Far Traveler): E/em (Uses neutral titles)  
> Janus(Deceit, Serpent, Snake, The Entity, Silver Tongue): She/her, they/them and it/its (Uses feminine and neutral titles)  
> Logan(The Scientist): They/them (Uses neutral titles)

The King twins were inseparable. They had always looked out for each other, no matter how many fights they got in, or how often they complained. It didn’t matter that Roman hated his brother’s stupid replica morningstar, or that Remus could barly stand Roman’s bright, pastel decorations. It didn’t matter that Remus ate horrible concoctions that made Roman a little sick, or that Roman was very particular on what mugs were used for what kind of tea.

They cared for each other, and would probably kill to keep each other safe.

So, when the letter arrived for Roman, Remus packed up his bags too. It was a good thing, no doubts. They weren’t exactly well off, both still paying off their college loans and not a masters degree between them. Both had been working multiple jobs.

Now a house filled with old stuff falls in their laps? Sure, it was in some small, mountain town out in the middle of nowhere. Yes, they had to uproot their lives. Neither really cared. Their current friends were circumstantial and fairweather at best. Most of them only talked to Roman, and weren't exactly the kind of people he would tell about his personal issues.

This was a chance, and a good one. So they took it.

* * *

_ Two lights shown in the darkness. _

_ Things, clinging and horrid, reached for them. _

_ The lights, brothers, pulled each other from grasping hands. Then, one by one, they pulled others up from the acrid smog below. _

_ From the fog below, Anxiety watched them shine. _

_ One, the elder brother, was a flame of gold and red. _

_ Beside him, a sickly green light pulsed, like a deep sea bioluminescence. _

_ The first light to join them was faintly blue, though mostly a bright pinpoint of fluorescence.  _

_ Than a vast, calming sky poked through space beside them, curled in on itself to fit in a similar, small sphere. _

_ Next a soft yellow glimmer emerged from the fog beside Anxiety. The slight sparkle was familiar, and it beckoned to em.  _

_ Finally, e let emself rise up as well. A well of violet light followed em, and soon, it consumed everything.  _

E shot up with a gasp. From nearby, the familiar figure of a semicorporial being glided to es side. Six, slightly luminescent hands reached to steady em as Virgil shook, coughing.

“Are you okay, love?” Janus asked with a concerned coo, the human side of their face scrunched up with worry. “Do you need anything?”

“W-water I think…” E rasped out.

Janus nodded, whistling sharply. A moment later, a ghostly snake placed a glass in Virgil’s waiting hands. She waited with em, reassuring em and offering hugs until e calmed. Once e was ready, Janus listened.

Janus always listened, was always there when e needed her. It was kind like that, not to mention hopelessly attached, as they had once phrased it. So it listened as Virgil spoke of fog and brilliant lights, of people they had yet to meet, of a fate they shared.

A smile graced the Serpent's face. Mischief glinted in their eyes.

Virgil raised a brow, e could tell it was planning something.

“When do you think they’ll be here, love?”

“A few days, probably. But shut up, it's cuddle time.”

“Fair enough.”

* * *

“-So now, we have some sad news.” Patty announced, chipper voice ringing through nearly every home in Valescape. Her brightly colored clothing and happy smile didn’t match the sadness in her eyes. “Marie King, a long term resident of our lovely town, has recently passed away. Her funeral will be held tonight, by the lake, where she will be returned to the sky as requested in her will.”

“In brighter news!” she quickly moved one, eyes still vastly sad. “Her will asked me to announce that she has left her home to a distant relative. In fact, he is on his way, along with his brother, to live in our lovely town! Please give them a warm welcome when they arrive!”

To sign off her broadcast, as she always did, Patty sang. Her voice was beautiful, in a haunting and unknown way. 

Like every day, Logan Sanders tried to record the news host’s voice. Like every day, the tape recorder stopped and the tape was gone and there was no file on their phone or computer. The scientist cursed under their breath. Another mystery they had yet to solve. 


	2. To Valescape They Went

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names and Titles will be pretty important in this story.  
> So, pronouns, names and titles master list(May be updated as we go)  
> Roman(The Prince, Fire, The Flame): He/him (Uses masculine titles)  
> Remus(The Duke, Sea, The Tide): He/him, They/them (Mostly uses masculine titles)  
> Pat(Patton, Patty, Sky): Genderfluid, changes between He/Him and She/her (Uses masculine or feminine titles)  
> Virgil(Anxiety, Star, Far Traveler): E/em (Uses neutral titles)  
> Janus(Deceit, Serpent, Snake, The Entity, Silver Tongue): She/her, they/them and it/its (Uses feminine and neutral titles)  
> Logan(The Scientist): They/them (Uses neutral titles)
> 
> Warning:  
> Foul language  
> Uncanny valley

The drive to Valescape was long, but as the mountains surrounded them, it became a beautiful thing. After an argument over music, it had actually become quite pleasant. 

The house was on the outskirts of town, only a few other buildings nearby. One was another home, in much better repair, they could see through a thicket of trees as the car came to a stop. Compared to the neat, blue painted panels and glinting windows of their soon to be neighbor, the twin’s new home looked like a mess.

The roof had patches of different colored and textured tiles, though thankfully seemed fully intact. Old, peeling layers of pastel paint chipped from the wooden walls, a paling green framed the old, slightly grimy windows. The front porch had a few patches missing, with boards haphazardly nailed over them. The railing was all but collapsed. An awning stretched from the side of the building, just large enough to fit a car. They decided not to park there.

“Wow, this place is a dump!” Remus grinned, hurrying out of the car, “Do you think it's infested?”

“I hope not, we have to live here.” Roman replied absently, fishing a set of keys from his coat pockets.

“Oh, yeah that's true…” Remus dulled slightly, before his eyes shot open once more with glee. “Maybe we can learn to hunt!”

“I’ll pass on that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if you could. You need a hobby, anyway.”

“I’d take offense to that if I wasn’t so hyped to explore all the old shit that's probably in this house!”

Roman laughed lightly, carefully making his way to the front door. The glass storm door was unlocked, and by the way its handle turned, broken. He called back to his brother as he unlocked the wooden door behind.

“This place is going to need a lot of work.”

“True!” Remus grinned, jumping on one of the patched spots of the deck. “When is our stuff getting here?”

“Oh, I think tom-” Roman cut himself off as he opened the door, “Uh, it's already here…”

Remus bounded over to pear over their brother’s shoulder. They could see into the living room from there, with their couch and piles of boxes neatly placed inside. Instead of a cluttered home full of old things, they found a tidy home with many, many closed doors. 

“These shouldn’t be here, right?” Remus asked, “Like, the house shouldn’t be this big, it's not this big!”

“What the hell?” Roman muttered, opening yet another door to a tidy room filled with what looked like books and pottery. “This doesn’t make any sense…”

As Roman began to have a crisis, there was a polite knock on the front door. It was a sharp, short sound. Also an excellent excuse to escape his encroaching madness, so Roman rushed to the door.

“Hello?” He asked, opening the door to a sharply dressed person. “Can I help you?”

“Greetings.” They stated, adjusting their glasses. “My name is Logan Sanders, they/them. I am your neighbor, as such it is traditional to bring a ‘housewarming gift’.”

“Roman Prince, a pleasure to meet you!” Roman grinned back, “I’d invite you in, but we haven’t started unpacking.”

“No worries, I have an experiment to get back to. Here.” Logan handed him a small basket of fruit.

“Thanks, and it was nice to meet you, Logan.”

“Of course. I thought it would be best if your first encounter was somewhat normal. This town is very unusual, I’ve been studying it for years. Be careful, don’t offer anyone anything you aren't willing to give and don’t open any doors with triangular handles. Oh, and tell your brother I said hello. Goodbye.” With that strange and ominous warning, Logan left.

“Who was that?” Remus called from somewhere in the house.

“Our neighbor, their name is Logan.” Roman froze, “None of the door handles are triangular, right?”

“None that I’ve found, why?”

“They said not to ever open those?”

There was a long pause.

“Well now I wanna!”

“Remus, no!”

* * *

It took most of the day to explore their new home. They found a total of thirty rooms, not counting the living room and connected kitchen. Two bedrooms were already set up with their furniture and boxes.

“So, we have a magic house and the town is really weird?” Remus summarized as the brothers snacked on their remaining food in the living room. The tv was on, showing a rerun of Gravity Falls. “And our neighbor is probably a mad scientist?”

“Yup, that's about it. My brain is crumbling to dust, I hope you're happy.”

“Oh, very. That's why it's better to expect everything and nothing! Love the imagery, by the way!”

With an odd click, their cartoon was interrupted, switching to what appeared to be an old fashioned news report. A young man wearing a baby blue suit sat in front of a slightly glowing, glass desk. A wide smile stretched across his pale face, slightly too many teeth shining a perfect, pearly white. His eyes crinkled into the smile, but were somehow still wide. Those bright blue eyes seemed to pear through the tv screen at the twins.

“Hello! Today we have a very special announcement. Two souls have joined our lovely little town! So, to Roman and Remus Prince, welcome to Valescape!”

The twins froze, for rather different reasons. 

Roman was terrified. Only one person in this town should know his name, and no one should know his brother’s. Not to mention the man seemed off, unsettling and just slightly wrong. Those bright, blue eyes seemed to burrow into his mind, like the man knew everything about him.

Remus froze because god was the man pretty. Maybe not in a traditional way. His skin was too smooth, the edges of his face too sharp and his eyes far, far too wide. His curly, pinkish blonde hair looked almost luminescent under the stage lighting. But he was pretty, in an uncanny sort of way and he had said Remus’s name and he was so pretty and what the hell?

“How the fuck does he know our names?”

“I don’t know but I don’t really mind…”

“You, dear brother, are a disaster.”


	3. Ghost in the Attic

The attic trap door did not have a triangular handle. Roman sighed in relief at that. It was the only room they had yet to explore in their nonsensical house. Remus had gone into town to get some basic groceries, leaving the elder brother alone for this adventure. With a deep breath, Roman pulled the door down. A ladder followed it, making not a single creak or squeak despite its old and slightly ragged appearance. 

“Okay, creepy old ladder is a check…” Roman mumbled, testing the rungs. They were surprisingly sturdy. With a sigh, he grabbed a flashlight and started to climb. It took longer than it should, but he did emerge into a predictably dusty and small attic.

“Oh, of course the attic is the only normal room.” He muttered bitterly.

“The kitchen and living room were also from the original plans.” A voice spoke from behind him.

Roman screeched, spinning around and pointing his flashlight like a sword.

“Really, darling?” A specter dressed in a sharp, dark suit asked, face morphed into an expression of disbelief and amusement. A hat was placed artfully over their long, lightly colored curls, casting a nonsensical shadow over half its face. A slight, golden glow permeated from the being, not seeming to affect the darkness. “I’m not a shadow, dear, light won’t do anything to me.”

Roman sputtered for a moment, flushing from both indignation and embarrassment. “What the hell? Why are you in my attic?!? Who are you? What-”

“Questions, questions.” the Entity drawled, cutting Roman off, moving their six hands about as it spoke. “You humans always ask so many questions. Not that that's a bad thing, you should question. Question everything, dear human, you know very, very little. As for why I am here, I have an open invitation to be here whenever I please.”

“What?!”

“Quite, the past owner and I tended to discuss and debate up here.”

“I’m going crazy, aren't I?” 

“Well, you might be. I can’t read your mind. I am quite real, though.”

“Well, fuck me than, I guess.”

“We’ve just met.”

Roman decided fainting was very justified, later after he woke up. His brother wasn’t home yet, but he was on the living room couch.

At least the attic ghost was considerate.

* * *

Shopping was boring, and Remus hated boring. Luckily he had found a whole aisle of weird shit. He was busy examining a jar filled with tiny bones when someone walked up next to them.

“Hello, welcome the town.” The stranger said. “You can call me Anxiety, I go by e/em pronouns.”

“Well, nice to meet you! I’m Remus, he/they.”

There was a long lull in the conversation where they just stared at each other. Well, Remus assumed Anxiety was staring back, he couldn’t tell with the literal mask e was wearing below es hood. The cloak ensemble was a fun choice, in Remus’s opinion. The black cloth had been patched multiple times with different shades and patterns of purple fabrics.

“Be careful.” Anxiety suddenly spoke, reaching out to hand Remus a small box. “Something will be out to get you and your brother in the near future. Look after eachother, don’t let eachother fall.”

“Is that a threat?” Remus probably shouldn’t be excited.

“What? No! I’m trying to help you!” E shrieked quietly, backing away from them. “Just, don’t open the box unless you're in danger!”

“Well, now I wanna open it for funzies!”

“That would be very bad!”

Anxiety fled shortly after that, and Remus put the box in his jacket pocket and promptly forgot about it. The warning continued to swim about his mind, and their excitement shifted to worry. It wasn’t just him at risk, their brother could be as well. 

Remus would have to be a corpse before they let danger reach him. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Conversing with humans was always stressful. They were… unpredictable. Virgil didn’t like unpredictability. E liked to know what could happen, e wanted to know every possible outcome. It had been easy before e met any humans. Now, talking to them every day, especially the new ones, was exhausting. 

Janus was home when e arrived, good. She was lounging on the couch, a book in one hand and their hat on the coffee table. It looked up as Virgil entered, eyes following em as e all but collapsed on the carpeted floor with a sort of pained whine.

“Did your plan work, love?”

Virgil just made another pained and stressed noise, tossing es mask aside before curling up under es cloak. Janus got up, setting her book aside and floating over to sit next to their partner on the floor.

“Can you talk right now?” It asked cautiously, receiving only another sad noise. “Okay, do you want a hug?”

Virgil latched onto her, which they easily reciprocated. There would be time to talk later. For now, they simply held each other. 


	4. Raccoons and Skies

It was the second time Logan had launched things into the sky from their backyard. They had built the tiny, practically toylike, rockets themself. Just like last time, the metal and plastic constructs went up and up, as they should. However, like last time, when the fuel should have run out, they kept going until they were invisible to the human eye.

Logan tried to find them with their binoculars, but the rockets were gone. The smoke trails stayed longer than they should have. 

They noted everything down in their journal, glancing back at the sky every once in a while. Last time the rockets had drifted down inexplicably, as if they weighed little more than paper. They waited for over an hour before deciding to take a break.

The sky in Valescape shifted sometimes, they had noticed. The color would change ever so slightly, as if undertones of the blue had been forced forward. Other days, patterns could be spotted in the vast space. Today, the blue was interspersed with slight swirls of pinkish purple, peaking past the cloud cover. 

Evidently, the town’s new additions had discovered this oddity, as a loud yell came from their home. It might have been rather foul language, but Logan honestly couldn’t discern that through all the screeching. 

Another voice, one they recognized as Roman, yelled something that sounded like “What are you screaming about now?” before he too shrieked. 

That wasn’t good, it sounded like there was a scuffle going on. Logan resolved to go help their new neighbors. With a heavy sigh, and a few protection charms in their pockets (They had found them quite useful so far, no matter how ludicrous the idea first seemed) they passed through the thin curtains of trees that separated the houses.

It was… a sight.

Roman was chasing after his brother, who was dressed in a garish, black and green dress and carrying a small, growling creature. Remus was grinning ear to ear, shrieking something about a new pet. Roman looked both exasperated and concerned.

“Remus get back here!”

“Never!”

Having new neighbors was going to be interesting…

* * *

Patty bounced on her feet as she walked, form unwinding slightly in her excitement. Just up the street was the King household. Of course, she could have gotten there much sooner by simply shifting through reality, but there was a fun charm to walking! 

She never had much reason to walk, or do anything in a humanoid form, before Valescape. So, she tended to relish each mundane action. They were nice, basic and simple, soft. Normality, it was a seasoning for life she had barely tasted, even after all her years in the lovely little town. Now, she knew this towns ‘normal’ was very different from the rest of the world. But this place was the closest Patty could ever get to the human world safely, so it did perfectly well.

She was so excited to formally meet the King brothers! Of course she had felt their souls enter the town borders, but she had long since learned that wasn’t what ‘meeting’ meant for humans and most other beings, for that matter. She loved the exchanging of greetings, the pleasantries! It was all so polite and soft, compared to the before. Much more pleasant than just reading eachothers deepest thoughts and ambitions as soon as your souls were close enough to dig.

Oh my, was that screeching coming from up ahead?

“You can’t keep a three eyed racoon as a pet! What if it attacks someone? Or eats my clothes like your last pet?!” A voice that felt like Roman King yelled.

“Rachel would never!!!!” The offended response, which felt of Remus King, followed at a much higher and more grating pitch. “How dare you!”

“And you go and name a  _ three eyed _ raccoon **Rachel** ?! Really???”

“What is going on here?” A much quieter, calmer voice called out. Patty recognized it as Logan Sander’s voice. That was a nice surprise, she hadn’t expected to see him today! 

The conversation devolved into yelling again as Patty neared, finally catching sight of the three. Logan stood at the thin treeline, a befuddled look on their face. The twins were running around in circles, Roman chasing Remus who was holding a small, rather smug looking Raccoon. The little creature was snuggled up amidst the thick, green and black frills of Remus’s dress, looking about to fall asleep despite the noise. 

“Well this looks like some fun!” Patty exclaimed, mostly directed at Logan.

Everyone stopped, startled. Roman skidded to a halt, while Remus stopped abruptly and scrambled to hide behind their brother. Odd, his soul didn’t feel shy…? Logan simply cleared their throat.

“Hello Patty, how are you today?” They asked, eyes flitting between Patty and the brothers. 

“Oh, I’m just swell! Had a lovely walk over! How about you, Logan?” She grinned. 

“I am well.” Was their terse reply. It was too bad, they were always so wary of the stranger residents. Patty understood their worries, but it still stung a little.

“Well, that's wonderful!” She replied, hoping they would recognize her genuine gladness at their good health. Logan simply smiled, thin and clearly forced. 

Well, today wasn’t about Logan. She could befriend them another day.

“How rude of me!” She turned her attention to the twins. “I haven’t introduced myself! My name is Patty Hart, today at least! She/her today, if you see me in a suit then it's a he/him day and my name is Patton.”

“It's nice to meet you,” Roman started, looking slightly uncomfortable, though his face didn’t show it. “I’m-”

“I’m Remus!” Remus interrupted, practically pushing Roman out of the way, to which Roman cursed at them. “But you already know who we are! How did you do that, anyway?”

“Oh, I know a lot of things! It's a gift of mine.”

“Thats nice.” the twins echoed, though Roman seemed very uncomfortable and Remus sounded excited. 

“I’m Roman, by the way. Which I would have said if my brother hadn’t been a-”

“Not my fault you were in the way!”

“You hid behind me!”

A small chime rang from Patty’s pocket, reminding her she would need to be back at the studio soon.

“Well, it was lovely to meet you both. I need to be going now. Let's have tea some time!” Patty announced with a curtsy. She twisted round, and let herself unravel into the sky above, becoming nothing more than a vast expanse of translucent blue. Then, that too was gone, reformed into her humanoid persona in the studio across town. 

Logan took out their journal and began writing notes. 

Roman almost fainted, again.


End file.
